Legal claims defining the scope of protection. Each claim is shown in both the original legal language and a plain English translation.
1. An encoded information reading (EIR) terminal, comprising: a terminal module including a central processing unit (CPU), a memory, and an encoded information reading (EIR) device, the EIR device configured to output raw message data; a wireless interface module communicatively coupled to the terminal module via a wired interface, the wireless interface module including a microcontroller, a memory, and at least one wireless communication interface; wherein the wireless interface module is configured to establish one or more wireless links with one or more peer EIR terminals to join a wireless network of peer EIR terminals; and wherein the wireless interface module is configured, responsive to receiving a portal announcement, to cache one or more network addresses of devices having originated the portal announcement.
An encoded information reading (EIR) terminal (like a barcode scanner) has a main module with a CPU, memory, and the scanner itself (EIR device) that outputs the raw scanned data. This main module connects via a wired connection to a wireless module. The wireless module contains a microcontroller, memory, and a wireless interface (like Wi-Fi). The wireless module connects wirelessly to other similar scanners, forming a wireless network. When the wireless module receives a "portal announcement" (advertising a gateway to another network), it saves the network addresses of the devices that sent the announcement.
2. The terminal of claim 1 , wherein the wireless interface module is configured, responsive to receiving one or more data packets from the terminal module, to incorporate the one or more data packets into one or more MAC frames and forward the one or more MAC frames to a peer EIR terminal, a wireless access point, or one or more portals.
The EIR terminal described above includes a wireless module that, when it receives data from the main scanning module, packages that data into MAC frames (wireless network packets) and sends those packets to either another scanner, a wireless access point, or a "portal" device (gateway to another network).
3. The terminal of claim 1 , wherein the wireless interface module is configured, responsive to receiving one or more MAC frames containing one or more data packets addressed to the terminal module, to transmit the one or more data packets to the terminal module.
The EIR terminal described above includes a wireless module that, when it receives MAC frames (wireless network packets) containing data intended for the main scanning module, extracts the data from the frames and sends it to the main scanning module.
4. The terminal of claim 1 , wherein the wireless interface module is configured to periodically transmit a route request message to the one or more network addresses.
The EIR terminal described above includes a wireless module that periodically sends a "route request" message to the network addresses of devices that have announced themselves as a portal (gateway to another network). It is checking to see if the routes are still valid and available.
5. The terminal of claim 1 , wherein: the wireless interface module is configured to: periodically transmit a route request message to the one or more network addresses; and responsive to establishing that a connection to at least one address of the one or more network addresses is lost, to transmit a notification to a portal having originated the portal announcement.
The EIR terminal described above includes a wireless module that periodically sends a "route request" message to the network addresses of devices that have announced themselves as a portal (gateway to another network). If the wireless module finds that a connection to one of those addresses is lost, it sends a notification to the portal that originated the original announcement.
6. The terminal of claim 1 , wherein the wireless interface module is configured, responsive to receiving a portal announcement including a link metric, to re-broadcast the portal announcement.
The EIR terminal described above includes a wireless module that, when it receives a "portal announcement" (advertising a gateway to another network) that includes a "link metric" (a measure of link quality), rebroadcasts the announcement to other devices. This helps propagate information about the best routes through the network.
7. The terminal of claim 1 , wherein the wireless interface module performs; IEEE 802.11-conformant wireless station services comprising authentication, de-authentication, privacy, and MAC service data unit delivery; and IEEE 802.11-conformant wireless distribution system services comprising association, disassociation, distribution, integration, and re-association.
The EIR terminal described above includes a wireless module that supports standard Wi-Fi functions (IEEE 802.11), including station services like authentication, encryption, and data delivery, and distribution system services like associating with a network, disassociating, distributing data, integrating with other networks, and re-associating.
8. The terminal of claim 1 , wherein the wireless interface module is configured to perform at least one of receiving beacons and transmitting beacons, the beacons containing at least an identifier of a path selection protocol, the path selection protocol being used for unicast, multicast, and broadcast frame transmission within the wireless network.
The EIR terminal described above includes a wireless module that sends and/or receives "beacons" – wireless signals containing information about the network. These beacons include an identifier of a specific path selection protocol that the network is using for sending unicast (one-to-one), multicast (one-to-many), and broadcast (one-to-all) messages.
9. The terminal of claim 8 , wherein the path selection protocol is the only path selection protocol being used for unicast, multicast and broadcast frame transmission within the wireless network.
The EIR terminal from the previous description utilizes a single path selection protocol (identified in the beacon) for all unicast, multicast, and broadcast communication within the wireless network. There are no other protocols used for path selection.
10. The terminal of claim 8 , wherein the receiving of beacons and transmitting of beacons is performed according to IEEE 802.11 Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS) mode of operation or IEEE 802.11 infrastructure mode of operation.
The EIR terminal described above sends and receives beacon signals using either the IEEE 802.11 Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS) mode (ad-hoc, peer-to-peer network) or the IEEE 802.11 infrastructure mode (network with an access point).
11. An encoded information reading (EIR) terminal, comprising: a terminal module including a central processing unit (CPU), a memory, and an encoded information reading (EIR) device, the EIR device configured to output raw message data; a wireless interface module communicatively coupled to the terminal module via a wired interface, the wireless interface module including a microcontroller, a memory, and at least one wireless communication interface; wherein the wireless interface module is configured to establish one or more wireless links with one or more peer EIR terminals to join a wireless network of peer EIR terminals; and wherein the wireless interface module is configured to implement an on-demand routing method, a proactive routing method, and/or a hybrid routing method.
An encoded information reading (EIR) terminal (like a barcode scanner) has a main module with a CPU, memory, and the scanner itself (EIR device) that outputs the raw scanned data. This main module connects via a wired connection to a wireless module. The wireless module contains a microcontroller, memory, and a wireless interface (like Wi-Fi). The wireless module connects wirelessly to other similar scanners, forming a wireless network. The wireless module uses either an on-demand, proactive, or hybrid routing method to decide how data travels across the network.
12. The terminal of claim 11 , wherein the wireless interface module is configured to implement the on-demand routing method by transmitting, responsive to receiving from the terminal module one or more data packets addressed to an external device having a network address, one or more route request messages to determine one or more routes to the network address based on one or more route reply messages received.
The EIR terminal described above can use an "on-demand" routing method. If the main scanning module wants to send data to an external device with a specific network address, the wireless module sends out route request messages to find paths to that address. It determines routes based on the route reply messages it receives.
13. The terminal of claim 12 , wherein the wireless interface module is configured to compare the one or more routes based on a pre-defined link metric.
The EIR terminal described in the on-demand routing claim compares different routes it finds (via reply messages) based on a pre-defined "link metric" (a measurement of path quality). This helps choose the best route.
14. The terminal of claim 11 , wherein the wireless interface module is configured to implement the proactive routing method by caching one or more network addresses of devices having originated a portal announcement.
The EIR terminal described above can use a "proactive" routing method. It saves the network addresses of devices that have announced themselves as a portal (gateway to another network) by listening for "portal announcements". This pre-populates its routing table.
15. The terminal of claim 11 , wherein the wireless interface module is configured, responsive to receiving one or more data packets from the terminal module, to incorporate the one or more data packets into one or more MAC frames and forward the one or more MAC frames to a peer EIR terminal, a wireless access point, or one or more portals.
The EIR terminal described above includes a wireless module that, when it receives data from the main scanning module, packages that data into MAC frames (wireless network packets) and sends those packets to either another scanner, a wireless access point, or a "portal" device (gateway to another network).
16. The terminal of claim 11 , wherein the wireless interface module is configured, responsive to receiving one or more MAC frames containing one or more data packets addressed to the terminal module, to transmit the one or more data packets to the terminal module.
The EIR terminal described above includes a wireless module that, when it receives MAC frames (wireless network packets) containing data intended for the main scanning module, extracts the data from the frames and sends it to the main scanning module.
17. The terminal of claim 11 , wherein the wireless interface module performs; IEEE 802.11-conformant wireless station services comprising authentication, de-authentication, privacy, and MAC service data unit delivery; and IEEE 802.11-conformant wireless distribution system services comprising association, disassociation, distribution, integration, and re-association.
The EIR terminal described above includes a wireless module that supports standard Wi-Fi functions (IEEE 802.11), including station services like authentication, encryption, and data delivery, and distribution system services like associating with a network, disassociating, distributing data, integrating with other networks, and re-associating.
18. The terminal of claim 11 , wherein the wireless interface module is configured to perform at least one of receiving beacons and transmitting beacons, the beacons containing at least an identifier of a path selection protocol, the path selection protocol being used for unicast, multicast, and broadcast frame transmission within the wireless network.
The EIR terminal described above includes a wireless module that sends and/or receives "beacons" – wireless signals containing information about the network. These beacons include an identifier of a specific path selection protocol that the network is using for sending unicast (one-to-one), multicast (one-to-many), and broadcast (one-to-all) messages.
19. The terminal of claim 18 , wherein the path selection protocol is the only path selection protocol being used for unicast, multicast and broadcast frame transmission within the wireless network.
The EIR terminal from the previous description utilizes a single path selection protocol (identified in the beacon) for all unicast, multicast, and broadcast communication within the wireless network. There are no other protocols used for path selection.
20. The terminal of claim 18 , wherein the receiving of beacons and transmitting of beacons is performed according to IEEE 802.11 Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS) mode of operation or IEEE 802.11 infrastructure mode of operation.
The EIR terminal described above sends and receives beacon signals using either the IEEE 802.11 Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS) mode (ad-hoc, peer-to-peer network) or the IEEE 802.11 infrastructure mode (network with an access point).
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August 19, 2014
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